One club man and Wests Tigers legend Chris Lawrence joined The Rush Hour for the latest episode of Hero, Highlight & Hardship.
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Lawrence opened up on his terrifying, freak accident during the 2019 pre-season.
The former Australian Kangaroo suffered but facial injuries after a mishap with teammate Ben Matulino.
“You have all these thoughts, split second,” started Lawrence.
“I thought it might have been my jaw, and then the face and then I just felt my face caving in.”
As Lawrence asked the Tigers physio for the green whistle and morphine, an ambulance delay caused by a horribly timed strike added to the tense situation.
Calming exercises luckily learnt quite recently before the injury by a specialist who worked with the New Zealand All Blacks helped Chris, though he was still in a very severe and fragile state.
“There was a moment where I panicked a little bit because [I] couldn’t breathe through my nose.
“All the blood rushes and you can’t breathe through your nose and then you start to choke.
“And then it was a sudden realisation that if I stopped breathing and I choked, there’s no one here to help me.”